Hunted
by Juliejuliejulie
Summary: Welcome to the madcap adventures of Edward, Emmett and Jasper. The guy's hunting weekend takes a sharp turn into crackficdom. Will they escape an adversary hellbent on revenge? Bearfights! Bloodshed! Newborns! EPOV. Post BD. IndieTwiFic 2nd round nominee!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The Twilight empire belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

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At least once a year, the killers come.

Just when we start to recover, they return. They slaughter my babies, my kin, and do unspeakable things with the corpses.

I roar with rage.

Yes, little one. Revenge. Soon.

For now, we sleep.

And wait.


	2. Chapter 1 The Arrival

The lights of the Jeep cut through the darkness as we drove through the entrance to Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Emmett, Jasper and I had left after sunset, covering the 200 miles in just over two hours. A storm had blown in a few days earlier, nearly closing State Route 542 and increasing the risk of avalanches. The snow and ice were manageable for Emmett, although I doubted any humans would be out on a night like tonight. While the sleet had stopped, the roads were treacherous if you didn't have the reflexes of a vampire.

Thick pines and Douglas firs bordered the single lane road, partially blocking out the nearly full moon. Emmett whizzed by the Visitor's Center, closed for the winter, and didn't pull over until we hit a patch of road, deep in the forest, that hadn't been plowed.

"Yes, Bella, we're here," I frowned into the phone. "It should only be a day or two." Emmett and Jasper had begged for weeks to have a guy's hunting trip. Even Carlisle agreed to accompany us, until a seven car pileup that afternoon had called him back to the hospital. While I enjoyed the company of my brothers, I hated being away from Bella. Even one day was too long.

"I'll miss you, crrrrkkkkkkk. Nessie wants you to crrrrkkrrrrrrkk…not mountain lion ckkkrrkkrrrrrr."

"Bella? You're breaking up." I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the bars. Only one. Weird. My high-tech phone usually maintained a signal wherever I was.

"Edward? I crrrrkkkrrrkk." Bella's voice dissolved into static.

"Bella, I can't hear you," I yelled. I fiddled with the buttons and shook the phone. "I'll call you lat…" I lost the signal before I finished.

I turned to Emmett with a growl. "Does your cell phone work? I don't want to be without contact from Bella and Nessie."

"Chill, bro," Emmett replied, fishing his phone from his pocket. _Whipped_. Emmett grinned as Bella and Nessie flashed in his mind. _Twice over, dude_.

"I wouldn't talk, Em." I rolled my eyes. "Rosalie has you at her beck and call …and Nessie can get you to do just about anything for her, too."

Jasper chuckled from the backseat. He leaned forward. "I don't have a signal either, Edward." A wave of calming energy floated toward the front of the car. "Relax. Nothing is going to happen." he added.

"Yeah, it'll be fine." Emmett glanced at his phone before replacing it in his coat pocket. "I forgot to tell you how patchy the reception is up here. Once we get a few more miles into the forest, we'll get our signal back."

Emmett and Rosalie came up to the Glacier Wilderness a couple times a year. He chose our destination for the weekend, mostly because he hadn't hunted grizzlies since my bachelor party.

"When was the last time you came up here?" I asked, then immediately regretted it. Emmett's mind flashed to he and Rosalie, sparkling and groping, while draining a massive bear.

A broad grin spread across Emmett's face. "Last summer. Rose and I…"

I held up my hand. "Stop. I don't want to hear it."

His eyes clouded over in lust. "Man, that was some good bear. And an even better night with Rose afterward. Mmmmmm."

Jasper's sour expression from the wave of emotion emanating from Emmett turned to annoyance when he met my eyes. _Thanks a lot, Edward._

"Sorry." I tried to superimpose the unwanted picture of Emmett thrusting into Rosalie's naked body with something else. Bella on our wedding day. She and Nessie, curled up next to the fireplace. Her soft lips when she kissed me goodbye that afternoon.

I grimaced. "This is the first trip I've taken since Bella turned. It feels weird not having her here."

The ladies were on their own hunting trip, although theirs included clothing as much as fresh game. They'd driven down to Seattle for the day to shop, and then planned a quick jaunt down to Mount Rainier for deer. Bella played along, although I knew she hated being separated from me as well.

"When we find a place with a steady signal, we can double back every few hours and check voicemail, okay?" Jasper suggested.

"Yeah, Edward. It's all good. The Volturi are back in Italy. Bella's a vampire. Nessie's fine. We'll only be gone two days tops. Besides, how long has it been since the three of us went hunting alone?"

It was February, and we'd gone on my bachelor party in August. Wow, six months.

I mumbled, "We've been a little busy since then."

Emmett punched my shoulder as he waggled his eyebrows obnoxiously. "I know what you and Bella have been doing the last few months. Damn right you've been _busy_." Both he and Jasper laughed. "You've been cooped up in that cabin too long."

While I was grateful he didn't mention the horrors of Bella's pregnancy and Nessie's birth, or the confrontation with the Volturi, Emmett's comment still clouded over my mood. I knew our trip wasn't just a brotherly outing. They were trying to help me forget the stress of the last few months.

I would try not to worry. Besides, what could go wrong?

Emmett turned to Jasper. "Let's have some fun. I'm thirsty!" We stepped out of the Jeep and into the deserted park.

The first few miles of the national forest sat nestled in a valley. The huge volcanic peaks of the Cascade Mountains rose in the distance, leading up to the tallest point, Glacier Peak. Besides being a remote, rugged wilderness of stark glaciers, jagged cliffs and incredible waterfalls, it was a reliable spot to find bears.

I pocketed my useless phone with a silent oath and stretched. The crisp chill felt good, clean. "Which way, Em?" I asked, looking over my shoulder toward the driver's side. I heard Emmett's decision before I saw the snowball careening toward my face. I ducked, and it sailed over my head and smashed into a tree.

_Man, that's annoying. _Emmett scowled, standing fifty yards back.

I shook my head. _He keeps trying, after all of these years_.

Jazz laughed, now standing on the road with a giant pile of snow in his palm. Game on. I grabbed a handful of ice and slush. In one bound, I passed the back of the Jeep and hurled it at Jasper. Emmett had the same thought as me and whipped another snowball a fraction of a second later. They exploded on opposite sides of Jasper's head.

"Dammit!" Jasper sputtered as he shook the white clumps out of his hair.

Emmett was already on the move, bounding over the hood of the Jeep. Before he could grab me, I bolted into the forest. With a whoop, Jasper joined in, tossing occasional snowballs at the back of my head. I glanced over my shoulder. _They'll never catch me_. Then my foot slipped on a patch of ice, and it took me a second to regain my balance. It slowed me down enough for Emmett to snag the hem of my jacket. His giant arms wrapped around me and together we tumbled into a tree trunk with a resounding boom. The force sent a shower of snow down on us. A deafening crack echoed in the blackness.

"Heads up," Emmett yelled as we stepped out of the way. The tree toppled over, knocking at least two others with it. "Oops," he smirked.

Exhilarated, we raced to the top of a ridge, overlooking a sea of trees. We stood downwind, and I could smell deer coming from the east. Emmett and Jasper found the scent, too, and without words we leapt off the edge. I grabbed a towering cedar and swung down to the ground. Together we moved in to ambush them.

The muffled crunch of snow beneath our feet sent the animals leaping in the opposite direction. I was faster, though, and caught the smallest doe a heartbeat later. She reared her head back in terror as my teeth slid into her neck. The sizzle of fear added an extra layer to the thick, salty flood filling my mouth, warming my veins. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until I'd drained the deer in seconds.

I looked up to see Jasper dropping a lifeless buck, wiping blood from his lips with the back of his hand. Emmett stood off to the side, empty-handed. His nostrils flared and he met my gaze with black eyes filled with pure desire and giddiness. "Now, _that's_ what I came here for."

My confusion vanished with my next inhale—the scent of bear—heading north. Emmett growled and bounded off to find his dinner.

"Are you going to follow Em?" I asked Jasper.

"No, I'm going to try for a mountain goat. I smelled one back near the cliff. I haven't had one of those in a long time," he grinned. "Besides, I don't like it when Emmett plays with his food."

Emmett's craving for "irritable" grizzly made him do all sorts of ridiculous things to the bear in the hopes of raising its ire before he attacked it.

_Sometimes it makes me lose my appetite_. Jasper shrugged. His mind flashed back to the last hunt with Emmett. After Emmett tackled and killed the bear, the agonizing cries of the unseen orphaned cub conjured up a memory from the time before Jasper joined our family. I saw him standing in an alley with a woman, draining her blood as she struggled helplessly against him. His feelings of hunger, bloodlust and satisfaction were quickly buried under the shock and regret from the woman. Uncharacteristically, he looked in her wallet, and gave a name—Anne Marie Bolton—to her face. When he tried to replace the wallet, a newly taken photo of her with her two small children fell out of her pocket. The guilt—and persistent sympathy for his prey—sent him spiraling further into depression. Thank goodness he and Alice found each other shortly thereafter.

"Alright." I nodded. Poor Jasper. It was hard enough to be a predator. "I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

I tilted my head, listening for Emmett. He was a few miles away, his laughter accompanied by guttural growls and snapping branches. Shaking my head, I raced to meet him.

A/N: I'm referencing the mythology created by BabelFish42 of Jasper's life before he joined the Cullens. Please see the "Philadelphia" chapter of "Climate Change," a fabulous fanfic, for the full details.


	3. Chapter 2 The Fight

Disclaimer: Still Stephenie Meyer's. Sigh.

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Emmett stood at the side of a clearing with a giant female grizzly opposite him. I stopped in the shadow of a thick birch tree, watching. It wasn't as if Emmett needed my help; I was just there to observe the spectacle.

By the look of her, she was already quite irritable, even before Emmett's efforts to aggravate her. A throaty growl warned him to leave her alone. Sadly, she was out of luck.

Even on all fours, the bear almost met Emmett's height. She reared and landed with her paws against the snow, her loud huffs sending plumes of her hot breath into the air.

_She looks cranky. Let's see how she likes this_.

Emmett threw four huge snowballs in quick succession, whacking her on the snout and shoulders. She groaned, shaking her head in annoyance. With a loud snarl, the grizzly lifted herself onto her hind legs, standing at least four feet taller than Emmett. The moonlight behind her lit the silvery tips of her fur, giving her a ghostly crystalline silhouette.

"Come on, you fuzzball!" Emmett yelled. He charged full-throttle at the bear like a linebacker. She lunged at Emmett with her claws but found no purchase against the steel of his skin. She did, however, tear the front of his jacket in long gashes. He ducked his head and grabbed the grizzly's hind legs. In one smooth movement, Emmett flipped the bear. She landed in the snow on her back with a thud, sending icy spray against his legs.

_Man, I just never get tired of this_. Emmett's face broke into a grin.

My brother was a sick individual.

The bear cried out with howls of pain and frustration. She rolled over and turned to face him. The grizzly still showed her fear—snorting lungfuls of air and clacking her teeth—but I distinctly sensed something else in her. Defiance?

Bears normally behaved in certain ways during Emmett's hunts. While their eyesight failed them, their sense of smell made up for it. Most reacted with pure terror when they caught a whiff of the innate _wrongness_ of a vampire scent. At first they might defend themselves, but usually they just ran away. Of course the pursuit only made it worse—summoning our predatory urges and the delight of a challenge. This bear was different. Strange.

_Come on, Mama bear. Come to Emmett_.

Emmett continued to egg the grizzly on, shouting profanities as he feigned charges against her. Again, I took note of the bear's bizarre behavior. She wasn't responding by attacking or running away. It was more like she was studying what he was doing.

Emmett wanted a fight though, and he was as impatient as a toddler.

_Stupid bear. What's wrong with her?_

He ramped up his efforts to drive the bear into pure rage. He bounded toward her, but instead of pulling her into a grip from the front, he leapt over her head, flipped and perched on her back. As he sailed over her head, the bear again swiped at Emmett with her claws, this time ripping the back of his jacket. The force of his landing, however, shoved the bear face-first into the snow.

Just then, the chorus of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" rang out in the clearing. It was Rosalie's ringtone. Emmett's dimples deepened as his smile grew wider.

_Sweet, sweet Rose_. _Like clockwork. Thank you, Alice_.

My own phone buzzed in my pocket. I checked the screen. Bella had left two messages, no doubt trying to reach me when our call got caught off.

The bear struggled to roll over, but Emmett pushed it further down in the snow. He reached into his pocket, finally noticing his coat was torn into jagged strips.

"You damn animal! You ripped my new jacket!"

He flipped open his phone and leapt off of the bear. "Hey babe. What's up?" he asked with a sultry smirk.

"I miss you, Emmy. You know I love to watch you hunt."

I rolled my eyes.

The grizzly regained her footing and shook herself off. Emmett's back was turned, absorbed in his conversation with Rosalie. The bear stood, her ten foot frame towering over him. Her eyes burned bright black—not only anger and fear, but unadulterated hate. With a shocking roar, she attacked.

"Emmett!" My warning came as she started to move, but Emmett didn't respond fast enough.

_Huh?_

The bear wrapped her arms around his shoulders and opened her mouth wide to bite down on Emmett's head. While her teeth couldn't penetrate his diamond hard skin, she held fast, lifting him off of the ground and shaking him furiously. Her paws squeezed one arm to his side and the other against his ear.

"Hey! What the hell?" Emmett nearly dropped his phone. It took him a few moments to break free from the bear's grip and elbow her in the neck. The grizzly released Emmett and dropped down to its paws with a sharp snort.

Shocked at the strength and the sheer nerve of the bear, I took a step forward into the clearing and waited.

"Emmett? What's happening_?"_

"I'm fine, Rose. She's pissed, and you know how much fun that can be."

_I've just never had a bear do _that_ to me before. _

When the bear stood up, Emmett shoved her in the chest with one hand, knocking her halfway across the clearing into a snow drift.

"I wish I could have some fun with you, too_." _

"Mmmmm, you little vixen. What are you wearing?"

As Rosalie described her see-through lingerie and the placement of her hands in graphic detail, I tried to concentrate on the grizzly. There was something very wrong about this situation. What was going on?

The bear was standing again. She panted and steam rose off of her fur in waves. The grizzly charged forward, apparently hoping to catch Emmett at a disadvantage. Emmett pivoted in time to wrap his arms around her body in a bear hug. The two of them locked into a violent frenzy, paws and fists a blur. I'd never seen a bear struggle so hard against Emmett. Her will to live and brute force astounded me.

Inevitably, Emmett pinned the bear to the snow on her stomach and climbed onto her back. He yanked the bear's head up and to the side before sinking his teeth into her fur. A nearly human cry of searing pain and defeat echoed through the forest. The grizzly tried to shake him off or to roll over onto him, but Emmett held her fast, downing huge gulps of her blood until it coursed down his chin.

_Unngggggg._

"Oh my god," Emmett moaned, his eyes at half mast and his jaw slack. "That was the best grizzly fight EVER." He gaped at the bear, now sinking into the snow drifts, weak from blood loss and splayed out like a rug.

Through the entire fight, Emmett never dropped his cell phone. He brought it back up to his ear. "Rosie, I am so turned on right now," Emmett growled, looking down at the growing bulge in the front of his pants.

"Tell me what you want to do to me Emmett baby_."_

"Aw, honey, right now I want your soft, plump lips on my… "

It was time to leave.

"Emmett, I'm going to find Jasper." I yelled. "Now." I wasn't sure if he even heard me. Emmett was lost in a mixture of blood drunkenness and dirty talk, his eyes glazed over and his gruff voice panting into the phone.

I couldn't run away fast enough.

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A/N: If you like stories about the Cullen men on their hunting expeditions, be sure to check out "Brotherhood" by LindaRoo and Blondie AKA Robin or "Frantic" by JustineLark. (PM me if you have other suggestions for good Cullen brother fanfics.)


	4. Chapter 3 The Mountain

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight.

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As soon as I was out of range of Emmett's festival of bears and sex, I called Bella. She answered on the first ring.

"Edward? Is everything okay?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, Bella love. I'm fine. I just needed to hear your voice."

After a sharp exhale, she asked, "Why isn't your cell phone working?"

"The reception up here is less than ideal. I'm sorry to have made you worry. Are you ladies having a good time?"

"Yes. We're at the cabin now in Ashford. Alice and Esme are shopping online for accessories and I just put Nessie to bed. Thankfully Rosalie stepped outside shortly after Alice told her Emmett had found a bear. That was a little too much information."

"Welcome to my world," I laughed.

Bella chuckled softly. She paused. "I miss you."

I closed my eyes, envisioning her beautiful face. "I miss you, too. We should be home by sundown tomorrow," I said, more to convince myself than her.

"I know. This shouldn't be so hard." Bella sighed. "When we were shopping today, Nessie showed me her memory of the first time we took her hunting. She hung onto your shoulders as you both watched me take down an elk. Less than two months later she caught one herself."

I remembered Bella's speed and grace as she had wrapped her arms around the stag's neck. She was still learning how to drain an animal without making a mess of her clothing. When Bella had realized that it was the first time she hadn't ripped or spilled on her shirt, she had thrown her head back in exultant laughter. Nessie had had a similar reaction when she captured her first elk.

"I never thought I'd say this once I became a vampire, Edward, but time goes so quickly."

"I didn't think so until I met you. It's funny how endless time still isn't enough," I whispered.

"Well, Nessie asked when you were going to take her hunting for mountain lion. She wants to know what all the fuss is about."

I chuckled. "Tell her we'll go before the end of March."

"I will. I love you, Edward," Bella said and made a frustrated growl. "You're less than 100 miles away, hunting bears with your brothers. It's ridiculous for me to be worried about you." She sighed again. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, too. Kiss Nessie for me."

"I will. Goodnight, honey."

"Bye, my love." I snapped my phone shut. I missed my wife. Leaving Bella was always difficult, but now, it seemed even harder. I should have been comforted that we had forever. Our lives were perfect and every blissful day bled into another. But during the confrontation with the Volturi, I realized how high the stakes were, how much I had changed in the last two years and how much Bella, Nessie and my family meant to me.

How perceptive of Bella to pick up on my own uneasiness. Logically I knew I had nothing to worry about, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It was this damn forest. I scowled in the direction of Emmett and the clearing. Next time I would choose our hunting location.

I pocketed my phone and followed Jasper's scent. I found him perched halfway up the side of a mountain, his feet dangling over the edge. A pile of goats, their bloody necks twisted at odd angles, lay heaped in a pile at the base. In four quick leaps, I joined him on the ledge, wedging myself against the icy surface of the cliff.

"Guess you were thirsty, huh?"

Jasper shrugged. _I don't even know why I drank that last one. I'm feeling sloshy now. I guess Emmett's…excitement affected me more than usual. _He shuddered. _He and Rosalie are really perfect for each other, huh? _

"Yes. They're lucky." I grimaced at the double meaning of my statement as much as the memory of Emmett's bear fight finale. "I guess we're all lucky to have found our perfect matches."

Happy vibes rolled off Jasper as he pictured Alice bounding toward him, her tiny arms wrapping around his waist. _Amen to that, Brother_.

We gazed into the quiet wilderness, blanketed by the sparkling snow. The silence was comfortable, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Mine returned to Bella. I wished I could curl up in her arms.

Jasper's memories of Alice weren't distracting. Unlike Emmett and Rosalie, he never strayed into the land of the pornographic. Jasper was a Southern gentleman through and through, even in his own mind.

He pondered Alice's pixie face, her exuberance slipping into the dazed expression of a vision. His memory shifted to another snowy day, as both of them raced through the trees and burst into the clearing, followed by Kachiri, Huilen and Nahuel. I'd heard Jasper and Alice's noisy approach as we teetered on the brink of war, but I'd never witnessed Jasper's version before. Aro, Marcus and Caius stood in front of the rest of the Volturi, less than forty yards away from us. Tendrils of mist curled around Bella's protective bubble, with Carlisle at the head of our motley group. Waves of fear and hate roiled off the Volturi, followed by surprise and love from our side. My triumphant face broke into an impossibly large smile. Beside me, Esme reached out to Alice, as the rest of our family and friends murmured with gratitude, curiosity and hope. I was struck again by the fierce look of concentration and determination on Bella's face as she crouched beside me, how she glowed like a righteous goddess.

"Thanks again, Jazz." I smiled ruefully at him when he realized how much I'd been watching his thoughts. "You and Alice really saved us. I still can't believe you found Nahuel in time."

Jazz eyed me cautiously. _Do you ever wonder how it would have turned out if we'd arrived an hour later? _

"I try not to." I grimaced. When I discovered that Bella had made arrangements for Nessie if we'd both been killed, I was both relieved and horrified. I trusted Jacob. I knew Bella did the right thing. I just couldn't imagine the reality of someone slaughtering my precious wife.

Jasper once again interrupted my own thoughts. _Near the border of Washington, Alice did have one vision where you defeated the Volturi and none of our family died._ While they ran, Alice described how the fight might unfold. Jasper imagined different formations, as if he was moving pieces of a toy army. _She could see how strong Bella was, and how killing key people—Jane, Alec, Demeti—would bring victory._ I caught only glimpses of the imagined combat, the casualties changing as quickly as Alice's visions. Suddenly, Alice had gasped and clutched Jasper's arm. "We've got to run faster. I can't lose my family."

The entire battle disappeared as Jasper cleared his mind. _Sorry._ He launched a heady wave of calm at me. _Even though the majority of Alice's visions without our arrival ended badly, there was at least one possible future of success if we were late._

"Yes, well," I frowned. "I still prefer your version of the cavalry than the odds we faced without you."

_Agreed. Let's be thankful it ended the way that it did._

I struggled to shake off the dread as my mind flipped through a hundred nightmarish scenarios of what Alice saw as they ran toward Forks. Maybe we could go home early. Hunting had lost its appeal.

_I'm sorry, Edward. I didn't mean to be a black cloud_. Jasper's eyes glinted mischievously. His serene vibes abruptly shifted to competitiveness. _Want to race to the top? _

As he stood, he shoved me off the ledge. I anticipated his movement and regained my balance, just missing his foot as I reached up to catch him. Jasper bounded up the cliff face, kicking down rocks and ice in his wake. I dodged the jagged clumps while shouting "Stop cheating, Jasper!" Without much effort I clawed my way alongside him. Jasper's laughing stopped when I leapt past him.

_Hey!_

He grabbed my ankle, yanking me back. I grunted as I kicked out, searching for a foothold. In the process, my shoe swung into Jasper's shoulder. With flailing arms, he tried to balance himself. He pushed into the rocks too hard, crumbling them under his grasp. With an enraged yowl, Jasper slid down the mountain at least fifteen feet, until he caught himself on an ice covered ledge.

A deafening rumble shook the mountain. _Oh, shit!_ "Avalanche!" Jasper screamed, a non-repentant grin covering his face.

An instant later, a sheet of snow and rock sunk slightly, hanging for a moment before tumbling down the side. I shoved my fingertips into the rock, careful not to break it off as I swayed in the breeze of the collapsing mountain.

I pulled myself up and used Jasper's distraction to beat him. In a few leaps, I reached the ice-covered apex and crawled over the top. Looking over the edge, I watched Jasper close the distance and scramble up the cliff face. A giant pile of snow and rock obliterated the trees at the base of the mountain. I turned and settled on the ground with my legs crossed.

A few seconds later, Jasper's blonde curls popped up in a blur.

"Nice going, Jazz." I growled.

_Oops. _

Jasper shook off a dusting of snow as he sat next to me. By now, dawn cracked the horizon, sending the first rays of pinks and blues across the expanse of sky. Only the tallest spikes of the Cascade Mountains poked out from behind a dense cloud of fog.

_I just bought this damn jacket last week. Between that cursed bear and my stupid brothers_…

I smiled as Emmett's disheveled head and shoulders emerged over the edge. He was covered in snow and his jacket was ripped to pieces. Despite his appearance, he looked nearly ruddy with exertion and satisfaction.

Jasper howled in laughter. "You look like hell, Emmett!"

"Thanks a lot. Did you know I was down there when you sent the avalanche on top of me?"

"You can thank Jasper for that one," I chuckled.

Emmett clambered over the edge and ran to tackle Jasper. I leapt to the side, out of his grasp. Mimicking the sound of falling boulders, they tumbled into the jutting rock that shaped the peak, rolling around and screaming profanities.

"Careful!" I shouted over their curses. "You're going to set off another one if you don't stop!"

With a last grunt, Emmett shoved Jasper, nearly throwing him off the side. Jasper teetered at the precipice, knocking down another shower of rocks and ice before steadying himself.

Emmett sat with his back against an icy spike, studying the remains of his jacket and shaking his head. "I heard you guys shouting and wanted to tell you what happened. It was the strangest damn thing. So I'm finishing up with Rose and this second bear shows up. Male. He starts going apeshit crazy. He doesn't run away or anything. Instead he howls like a demon and attacks me!" Emmett's eyes sparkled with a mix of indignation and awe.

In his mind's eye, Emmett leaned against the back of the female bear, his pants yanked down to his knees. A medium-sized male stepped into the clearing. After a sniff and a snort, he bounded toward Emmett, still scrambling to stand and yank up his jeans at the same time.

Emmett laughed and shook his head. I lost the image as he met my eyes. "Well, he tried to anyway. I've never seen bears act this way. Rose and I have been here at least ten, fifteen times."

"What did you do, Emmett? Did you kill him?" I asked.

"No," Emmett frowned. "I could barely finish the first bear. I figured Carlisle wouldn't want me to waste. You know how he's always going on about nature's precious resources. So I knocked him out and left him in the clearing. Maybe his pounding headache will make him extra irritable the next time we meet up." Emmett rubbed his palms together in anticipation. "That would be awesome."

Rolling my eyes, I turned to Jasper. As I filled him in on the female grizzly's actions during her fight with Emmett, his look of confusion grew. "Hmm," he mumbled. "Why would the bears act that way?"

"I don't know." Again I struggled to figure out what was going on.

"Ooooooo," Emmett sung, as he wiggled his fingers menacingly. "Maybe we're in the Twilight Zone." He broke off a piece of rock and lobbed it at Jasper, who caught it and whipped it back at Emmett. He ducked, laughing, and stood. "Come on, guys. Let's chalk it up to random near-full moon weirdness. Mount Baker is less than an hour south from here. It's a volcano, you know. Maybe it will explode. Or better yet, we can climb to the top and play dodgeball!"

His contagious boyish enthusiasm forced a whoop from Jasper.

"Let's go!" they both yelled as they leapt over the side. I shook my head, suppressing a smile, and followed a second later.


	5. Chapter 4 The Discovery

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight.

A/N: Many, many, many thanks to Justine Lark for her beta abilities.

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By the time we climbed down the northern ridge of the Mazama glacier on Mount Baker, our skin matched the sparkling snow in the bright morning sun. Both Jasper and Emmett still felt full, but I was thirsty. As much as I wanted to hunt a lynx, home called out louder than my cravings. The convenient and plentiful deer won out over the siren song of the sleek feline predator.

After a brief and static-filled phone call to Bella, I quickly found a herd to the north. Trailing their scent, I crept up to within a half mile of them, then snapped into action. Mid-bound I reached for the closest one, a small doe, and sunk my teeth into her neck before she even made a sound. In the few moments it took me to drain the deer, the rest had scattered in a panic. Wiping my mouth on my hand, I turned to the north and ran to meet Emmett and Jasper at Nooksack Falls, not far from where we parked the Jeep.

As I sprinted through the National Forest, I noticed again how beautiful it was here. The grayish black rocks of the Cascade Mountains faded to dazzling white and blue at the glacier crowned peaks. Undeveloped trails, now covered in ten to twenty feet of snow, stretched through hundreds of miles of old growth forests of fir, cedar and pine.

I stopped at the top of the Falls, interrupting Emmett and Jasper's wrestling match. I cleared my throat to get their attention. They ignored me, continuing to tumble and throw each other against Mount Shuksan, ever closer to the edge of the narrow rocky gorge. "HEY!" I yelled. "Come on guys! Let's go home!"

Emmett broke free of Jasper's grasp and launched himself at me. I leapt over him, vaulting myself into the 125 foot chasm, skipping along the boulders and skating on patches of frozen water. My brothers followed quickly behind me, throwing massive rocks and snowballs at my head.

_Oh, shit_. "Wait up guys!" Emmett abruptly stopped. Jasper promptly slammed into the back of him, sending them both into a massive snowdrift. Laughing, Emmett stood. "I need to go back to the clearing. I didn't take care of the bear yet."

"He'll be fine, Emmett," Jasper replied, shaking his golden, ice-laden curls before brushing off his coat. "That grizzly probably woke up hours ago."

"No, not that bear, the other one."

"What other one?" I asked. "Wait, you didn't take care of the first bear's carcass?"

"No, I told you, I got distracted when that male showed up. I figured nobody was around anyway, so I could do it later."

"That's really careless, Emmett," scolded Jasper as he nailed Emmett on the side of the head with an icy slush ball.

"I know, I'm totally stupid." Emmett looked down at his feet in exaggerated remorse. "Look, I was caught up in the moment. Sorry. It won't ever happen again."

"Well, let's go," I growled.

As we ran through the forest, the wind picked up. I leapt over a fallen birch tree and caught the smell of humans.

"Hold up, guys! There are people up ahead."

Jasper whispered an oath under his breath.

"Edward, is it the forest ranger? Did someone find the bear?" Emmett asked.

_I wish I hadn't forgotten my sunglasses. I forgot how bright it can get up here_.

_Roger picked a beautiful spot for skiing today. I'm glad the storm stopped last night. I couldn't handle another day cooped up in that cabin._

"No," I answered. "It's just two skiers."

Jasper tensed beside me_. _

"Let's head further east to avoid them," I suggested. "We can loop around to the other side of the clearing.

A few minutes later, a scream echoed through the trees. We slowed, heads tilted and listening.

"Did the other bear find them?" Emmett glanced at me.

_What the hell is that thing? _

_What…Oh, god, no!_

Both minds saw only a wide open mouth of razor sharp teeth and glowing red eyes.

"No! Stay away! Run, Caroline! Run! Aaaaaaaaaaa!!" A horrific growl drowned out his shriek. More screaming erupted, higher pitched this time, followed immediately by a thunk. Then silence.

Glowing red eyes?

"Wait!" I motioned with my hand for them to stop running. "I need to check what's happening with the skiers."

_What the hell, Edward?_ Jasper looked at me, confused.

"We'll stay upwind, but something weird is going on." I told myself not to worry. The humans must be confused. There's no way it could possibly be…

The three of us flew in the direction of the scream. I smelled the blood before I saw it.

_Shit._

Jasper winced when he caught the scent, too.

A skier lay in the snow, nearly torn in half. The front of his chest looked like the tattered remains of Emmett's coat. Blood soaked through his yellow fluorescent jacket, turning it a sickening shade of orange. One boot, still attached to the ski, rested against the trunk of a hemlock tree.

_Cripes. What a fucking mess_. Emmett stared at the remains.

I checked my phone. No reception, of course, but three missed calls from Alice and one from Bella.

"Emmett! Jasper! Check your phones!"

Jasper's pupils dilated as his growing bloodlust conjured a flood of violent images.

"Jasper! Snap out of it and check your damn phone!" I barked.

As if in a fog, he reached into his pocket and turned away from the body. He looked at his cell and exhaled sharply to clear his head. "I missed a bunch of calls from Alice."

"Me too," said Emmett. "And one from Rose."

"There was another scream. Where's the second person?" I asked as I approached the mangled man. A gust of wind sent the smell of copper and snow in my nose, along with something else, something cloying and syrupy.

My head jerked up, eyes wide. Damn, it confirmed my suspicions. "A vampire was here!"

"Who?" Jasper asked, mystified.

"I don't know."

"How is that possible, Edward? We've been all over this park. We would have smelled someone before now." Emmett crouched next to me, inhaling deeply. "I don't recognize who it is. It's barely even there."

"The skiers saw their attacker's teeth and red eyes. I was hoping it was a trick of the light, but it wasn't. Someone's been here." Why wouldn't I hear anything? I paused to listen for someone else, but my brothers were the only vampire minds in the area, both scanning through possibilities of who might have done this and why. Does this vampire know we're here? And would another vampire have shielding abilities like Bella? Is that why I can't hear his or her thoughts?

I circled the body, following a trail of blood that led further into the forest. There was more of same subtle vampire scent here, but mingled with something else. Like musk and sap and wet earth.

Jasper closed his eyes, fighting to focus on the underlying smell and not the blood. "I don't recognize it either," he said. "It's bizarre. Why wouldn't the scent be stronger? And if a vampire did this, why wasn't the man drained? Why rip him apart?" He glanced down at the stained snow. _Why waste all that blood if the vampire came here to hunt?_

"I don't know."

A fierce growl echoed from further south.

_Sounds like a bear. Maybe that second grizzly finally woke up. _Emmett grinned_. If I wasn't still full, I'd stop for a bite_. He bounced up and down, punching his fists in the air like Rocky Balboa.

Exasperated at Emmett's short attention span, I exhaled sharply. "Let's follow this trail and catch up with whoever this is. As soon as we get a signal, Jasper, you call Alice and find out what she saw."

As luck would have it, the blood led us back to the clearing. Both bears were gone, but the snow in the center appeared black from the amount of gore splattered on it.

"Emmett, I didn't know you could be such a savage, slopping blood all over the place," Jasper said incredulously.

"I didn't. I told you." Emmett frowned. "I didn't kill the second bear and Edward, you saw me with the first one. I barely spilled anything."

"There's both human and bear blood here," I puzzled. "Emmett, where's the bear?"

"Dude, I have no idea." Emmett's eyes searched the perimeter. Other than paw prints, the blood and a few downed trees, it was empty. "I left her right here. Maybe the other vampire dragged her away?"

_Why would a vampire want a dead drained bear?_ Jasper's thoughts were interrupted when his phone rang.

_Alice._

He flipped open his cell and before he could even say hello, she bellowed, "What is going on, Jasper? I've been trying to call you guys and none of you answer!"

"I'm sorry, Alice. What did you see?"

"What did Emmett do?" she wailed.

"What?" Jasper scowled at Emmett's confused expression.

_I didn't do a damn thing! _Emmett crossed his arms over his chest.

"What did you see, Alice?" Jasper repeated.

"It's crazy. I saw Emmett fighting a newborn."

_A newborn? Who's creating more vampires? _Jasper nodded at me._ Red eyes indeed, Edward_. "Who is it, Alice?"

_Why is she blaming me for that? It's not my fault if some newborn kills a damn skier. _Emmett cracked his knuckles. _Besides, what is up with these rogue vampires popping up around here? _He smiled_. Must be the pretty scenery._

"That's just it, Jazz. It isn't a who, it's a what. I saw Emmett fighting a newborn vampire _bear_."


	6. Chapter 5 The Hunt

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight.

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Jasper blinked into the phone, stunned.

"Impossible," I spat.

"No freaking way," Emmett's smile disappeared. "No way. I killed that grizzly."

"Are you sure?" I frowned.

_She was dead, wasn't she?_ "Yes," he replied, hesitantly. _Shit._

"I saw Emmett fighting the bear earlier," Alice continued. "When I checked in this morning to see when you guys were heading home, I had another vision of Emmett struggling with a fuzzy blob that was the same size as the bear. I can't see it exactly. I mean, it's not like when you blip out of my vision when you're with Jacob or something. Instead it's like you're battling fog. With red eyes and teeth."

"Didn't you check that the bear was dead, Emmett?" I fumed.

He gaped at me, his eyes as wide as plates. "She wasn't moving. I figured she was dead."

Jasper shook his head. "You didn't snap her neck? Even you couldn't drain a whole bear."_ Way to go, Emmett._

Emmett bobbed his mouth open and closed like a fish. He ran his hands through his hair. "I told you I was distracted!" he exclaimed.

"Great excuse." I walked to Jasper and took the phone. "Alice, can you tell us where the bear is now?"

"No, I've been looking for over an hour. It's hard to spot a fuzzy blob in a snow covered wilderness. It gives me an even bigger headache than the wolves do," she whined. "Every time I finally see something, it's just Emmett fighting the newborn."

"Well," I scowled at Emmett. "Keep looking and call us back right away if you see anything." I hung up and handed Jasper back his phone, as my own started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Edward! What is going on?" Bella asked.

"I don't know. Emmett accidentally created a newborn bear."

"I heard." she sighed. "Esme's on the phone with Carlisle to see if he knows what to do."

_Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone_. Emmett kept staring into the trees and then back to the empty space where he left the grizzly.

"Should we come down and join you?" Bella asked. "We can help track the bear."

"No, I don't want you or Nessie anywhere near here. Besides, haven't you spent enough time around blood crazed newborn vampires?" I hoped my joking hid the hint of worry building in my chest. "Between the three of us, we can take care of it."

We had no idea how a vampire bear would react. Certainly she would be even more unpredictable than a human-turned-vampire. We already had one casualty and a missing person in the last few minutes. Thank goodness the storm had kept more skiers away from the National Park. I didn't want to endanger more lives just because Emmett was careless. We would find and kill the newborn before anyone else got hurt.

"Be careful, Edward."

"I will. Bella, I've got to go. I'll call you if anything happens."

"Love you."

I snapped my phone shut, facing Emmett. "Okay. Let's replay this. Step by step, tell us what happened."

"I did already," he groaned. "I bit the bear. I was finishing up on the phone with Rosalie and the male grizzly came into the clearing. He rushed at me and tried to attack me. I knocked him out with my fist. I wanted to meet up with you guys and I figured I could dispose of the bear later. I ran to the mountain and you dropped an avalanche on me. That's it."

"Wouldn't the bear make noise if it was turning? Surely the venom would burn through a bear as much as a human." Jasper said. "That was really fast, too. Emmett only bit her yesterday."

"Hmm." I scanned the clearing, searching for some sort of clue. "So maybe the second bear woke up when the newborn did. She's hungry, kills the bear—which might explain all of the blood. She's still hungry, finds the skiers, and kills one of them."

"But why wouldn't she drain the bear and human instead of tearing them to bits? Why waste all of this blood?" Jasper motioned to the stained snow. "And if she drained the other bear, where is he?"

"And where is the other skier?" Emmett added. "Why would a newborn kidnap somebody?"

"I don't know." I ran my hands through my hair and closed my eyes. Foolish Emmett. I just wanted to drive home and now we had to go on this wild goose chase. How hard was it to kill a damn bear?

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "We need to find that other skier and destroy this newborn. Can you imagine if she reaches a nearby town?" My mind raced through the list: Glacier, Maple Falls, Kendall, Deming, Bellingham. We didn't need to deal with a repeat of the killings in Seattle. Plus, a vampire could temporarily blend into the population without immediate alarm but an uncontrollable, eleven foot grizzly bear with blood red eyes was an entirely different story. Think, Edward, think! "Okay, let's spread out. We've got to find her scent."

_Why didn't I check that the bear was dead? I royally screwed up this time_. Emmett moved to the center, sniffing.

I started at the east end, trying to pick up either the human or the bear. I couldn't find a clear trail. All of the smells jumbled together in the clearing and then seemed to disappear.

Jasper moved to the opposite end. "Emmett, did you smash these trees?"

"No. Why would I?"

Jasper leaned up against the branches of a large fir. _Got it_. He smiled and bolted into the forest.

"Jasper?" I started after him.

"Guys!" he called out. "I found the other skier!"

Moments later, Emmett and I caught up to him a few miles from the clearing. He stood over the woman's corpse. She lay sprawled on the ground, eyes and mouth open in a silent scream, with one of her arms ripped out of the socket. Surprisingly, little blood colored the snow around her.

"Okay…" Emmett grimaced. "The newborn got her too. Where'd her arm go? Did she eat it?"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Would you eat an arm, Emmett?" _Moron._

"Shut up, Jasper!" he pouted.

"Edward." Jasper's face creased in concentration. "There must be enough similarities between a vampire human and a vampire bear if Alice can see the rough shape of her. You can hear the werewolves. Can you hear the newborn's thoughts?"

I shook my head. "I couldn't before, but maybe she was just too far away. Or maybe bear brains are too different than ours."

"Why is it so hard to track this bear?" Emmett yelled in frustration. "I can smell the Jeep from miles away but I can't smell her!"

Jasper's eyes widened. "Do you think it's possible that the newborn could be a shield like Bella? Maybe she's somehow able to block her scent?"

"How would a bear know how to do that?" Emmett scratched his neck.

"Maybe she doesn't know it. It would explain why her scent is so inconsistent, but it's impossible to know for sure." I grimaced. Great. Now we were dealing with a newborn with possible enhanced abilities. I hoped Jasper was wrong.

"Right." Jasper laughed. "It's not like we can have a conversation with her when we find her."

_No fair. Why does this stupid bear get to do something extra cool? _Emmett leaned against a tree, gazing off into the distance. _What would I want to do that no other vampire could do? I wish I could fly. Or be invisible. Well, I guess I'm nearly invisible since I can move so fast...and I can run fast enough that it's like flying_. He smirked to himself. _I guess I'm pretty freaking awesome already_.

Snickering, I shoved Emmett's shoulder. "Come on. We're wasting time. Let's just assume this bear is like any other newborn. Unpredictable, thirsty and dangerous."

We barely caught a weak trail of the musky, earthy sweetness, and after losing it, finding it, and losing it again, we somehow managed to pick it up near the base of a mountain. Huge jagged rocks jutted out of the side. The scent lingered here, stronger now. I leapt up the cliff face as Jasper and Emmett each wound around the base. About twenty yards up, I found an opening to a cave, barely visible behind a mammoth boulder. I couldn't hear any heartbeats as I stepped inside, although the smell grew more pungent, with new edges of pinesap and honey. Blood, too. Both human and bear. My shoes stuck to the red-spattered ground as I searched the small cave. A pile of branches and grass crowded one corner. I brushed it aside with my foot and found the arm, well, what was left of it.

Stepping back out into the sun, I jumped down the ground. Jasper and Emmett made their way back towards me. "I found the bear's cave. The arm's up there, with more blood. Did you guys find anything?"

"Nothing but bear crap." Emmett replied. A grin spread across his face. "You know those big logs of shit are called anal plugs, right? That reminds me of the time Rosalie…"

"Emmett! What is _wrong_ with you?" I stared at him. "There's a newborn vampire bear on the loose and you're thinking about _anal plugs_?"

Grimacing, Jasper glanced at me. "I think the scent heads east. Let's go."

_These guys need to loosen up_. Emmett smiled wider as we ran. _That was one of the best honeymoons Rose and I ever had. She sure is flexible._

"Emmett!" A flood of explicit images rolled off Emmett in waves. _Way_ too much information about my siblings. "Think of anything other than sex. Please."

He frowned at me, then distracted himself with visions of finding and fighting the newborn. His excitement and anticipation grew as he remembered Alice's prediction. _Can't wait to have a bear smackdown_. He chuckled. _Sweet_.

Thankfully free from Emmett's sexual gymnastic memories, we headed over another set of steep ridges. It was easier to follow the newborn's path of destruction as smashed trees and rocks marked its course through the forest. A drained deer lay wrapped around the trunk of a hemlock tree. We found three others a few hundred feet away. These were only partially drained, torn to pieces and barely recognizable as anything other than venison burger. A stronger fragrance hung under the blood here, like sumac and fresh water.

"What the hell?" Emmett bent over the split skull of the buck. "This doesn't even look like she's feeding. It's like she's killing for the fun of it or something."

I didn't understand. Why was the newborn randomly killing animals instead of draining them? And why did her scent keep changing? It made no sense.

My phone chirped in my pocket. "It's Carlisle," I breathed in relief when I checked the screen. Maybe he would have some answers.

"Carlisle? What did you find out?"

"Crkckkk looking and I can't find much crkkckckk. The venom moves faster cssscrrrkkkk higher metabolism. Be careful! Crssssssssrckkkk vampire lacks human reason crrkckkkkckkssssssss pure primal hunger. Crsssrcksskkks extremely dangerous."

"Carlisle? You're cutting out." I needed to buy a better phone.

"Edward? You boys have to find cssrssssrrrrck before there are any human casualties crkkckcssssskk."

"Um, we've got a problem there Carlisle." Emmett mumbled.

"Carlisle, I'll call you back, okay?" I hoped he could understand me through the static. "Keep look…" I added as the connection broke. Again. "…ing." I snapped my phone shut with a string of silent obscenities.

"We need to find that bear. Let's split up. If you find anything, try to call and if you can't get through, shout. Otherwise everyone meet back at the clearing in an hour."


	7. Chapter 6 The Bear

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. Emmett just wanted some irritable grizzlies and I felt the need to oblige.

Thanks again to Justine Lark for her beta skills.

Timeline: The first chunk happens around 10:45 pm. The second is around 4:00 am. The last is about 9:30 am. Bear transformations are speedy in my world.

Bear's POV

*******************************************************

So long I've waited to avenge my kin.

This killer murdered my babies, my mates.

Now it comes for me.

I am ready.

What is it?

Wait.

Watch.

I won't let it escape again.

The monster's strength surprises me.

I am strong, too.

Attack!

No. NO!!

What happened?

It smells wrong and doesn't bleed.

Even when I bite its head.

No. Please, no.

Keep trying.

It bit me!

No!

Blood pours from my neck.

Must fight.

Can't.

No.

Revenge. Gone.

Regret. Injustice.

Sadness.

Too weak for fury, but then, burning.

Pain.

I sink deeper in the snow.

Am I on fire?

I hear noises. A weight against my back.

Anguish. Torture.

Am I dead?

Why won't it stop?

Then silence.

Only pain.

And more pain.

It grows worse. Consumes me.

No smoke, but I must be on fire. Invisible flames lick my fur, char my skin.

Can't run. Can't move.

Now it sears inside of me.

My pounding heart jumps like a deer.

Oh, pain.

When will my suffering end?

Too much to handle.

Try to growl but no strength for noises.

Confusion.

Pain.

Silence.

Only fire.

And pain.

********

My heart is beating too fast.

Yes. Please.

End.

It stops.

Silence.

Am I dead?

The fire is gone.

But I can move. Think.

Confusion.

Too many smells. Noises.

Taste…the air?

Mmmm.

Hunger?

No. Thirst.

I hear the sound of a heart.

I open my eyes.

It is dark but I can see as if it were light.

Yes.

Blood.

I am not alone.

My recent mate sits up, yawns.

Need.

Now.

He sees me.

Stands in challenge. Towering, he roars.

No fear.

Only thirst.

I leap.

So fast. So far.

How?

I land nearly on top of him and shove him aside.

Too strong. My claws cut through his stomach.

Oh, thirst.

Ahhhhh.

Can't stop. Bite his throat.

Gulp the coursing blood.

Fresh. Familiar. Warm.

More.

Bite down.

Bite down again on the pulsing heat and delicious blood.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

Power.

Need.

Wait.

Memory fading.

Must remember.

Something.

Stop.

Can't stop. Blood is so good.

Smells like the red trees and the river.

More.

Wait.

Baby.

Yes.

I pull away. I shove the bear into the snow.

Stop.

I have a cub.

Something else. Remember.

First, my cub.

I run to the cave.

So fast. I jump up, past the trees.

Blurry. Speed.

Good.

My cub is asleep. She doesn't hear me.

Mine.

She smells sweet. Must taste.

No.

Wait.

Thirst.

Just a small taste.

I bite down. Her skin is tender, with such sweet blood.

Like pinesap. And honey.

Ohhhhhh.

Stop.

I mustn't kill my baby.

There is something else.

What was it?

Now I remember.

Kill the monsters.

I pull away from my cub, but I am still so thirsty.

Stop.

My cub howls and claws at the air.

No.

Sadness.

What did I do?

Is she dying?

Regret. Did I kill her?

She keeps moving, endlessly crying.

Alive.

No. She will be like me.

Not dead, just burning.

Nudge her head. Lick her.

Tastes different now.

I am thirsty.

The fire reaches my throat.

Go.

********

Feels good to jump and run.

So fast.

I can smell the sun!

I taste the crisp air.

Faster.

Wait.

Must find the monsters. I am stronger.

Revenge.

Yes.

Rejoice.

Follow the smells. So many.

Two creatures move through the snow. Different than the monsters, but their kind are still killers.

Their skin is bright. They make loud noises.

I hear their hearts pound faster.

Blood.

Delicious.

Thirsty.

They see me.

Mine.

The noisy one pushes the other one away.

I reach it in one step. I swipe and it grows louder.

Strange sticks are in the way. Why is this creature walking on sticks?

I bat it away with my paw and bite its chest.

Ahhhhh.

Tastes like fear, and something else.

Better. Sweeter than our kind.

With a mouthful of hot blood I look at the other one. It squeals.

Hush.

I grab it and slam it into a tree. Must bring it to my baby.

I bite down on the arm to drag it with me. I taste blood.

More fear and sweetness. And flowers.

So thirsty.

No. Wait.

Must save it. Resist.

As I run, I suck through its slippery skin.

Delicious.

I enter the place where the monster bit me.

The male awakens.

He stands, with shiny red eyes.

No fear.

Stay away.

_Mine. _

He charges at me, trying to steal my prey.

I dive to the side, and he crashes into a tree. Again he claws at me, but misses and rolls into another tree.

I run. He chases me.

His teeth catch on its torso.

No. _Mine_.

He wraps his paws around it and I pull.

The arm rips off in my mouth as he clambers away with the rest.

I howl in rage. He ignores me.

My cub can eat the arm.

I turn back to look. He empties the creature and tosses it aside.

He runs away.

Grrrr.

Go. It's gone.

I race to the cave. My cub is awake now, growling with thirst.

She topples me over, clutching the arm. She searches for blood.

Not enough.

More roars.

I know. Come little one.

Let us feed.

We leap off the mountain. So high, so far.

My cub knocks down the trees where we land.

Run.

Thirst.

We are almost flying like the creatures in the sky.

Faster.

There. Deer.

My baby flings herself on the doe, clamping her mouth on its throat.

Then she drops the empty thing to the side.

Good.

More.

I hear smell taste another.

It is too easy. I forget my strength. One blow splits the animal like rotten fruit.

Blood.

I drink what's left.

Hmm.

Fear and grass and musk.

Not as good as bear. Or the bright skinned creatures.

Their blood tastes best.

Wait.

Remember.

Yes, the monsters.

Another deer. I crave blood, but feel full.

Rather than drink, I pound. I rip.

This is what I will do to them.

Yes, little one. You drink.

I hear the male approaching. He must smell the blood.

Come little one.

We will track them.

Let us find the monsters.

We will kill them.

Run.

Faster.

Further.

Go.

Over there.

More.

Thirst.


	8. Chapter 7 The Battle

Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight, but the bears are all mine.

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The three of us raced off in separate directions. As the best tracker, Jasper headed toward the weakest trail to the southeast. Emmett focused on the area west of the clearing. Since I was the fastest, I ran north, with plans to zigzag through the rest of the park with the hope that I could spot the newborn, catch her scent or hear a thought somewhere within the hundreds of miles of the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.

As I leapt over snowdrifts and ravines, I searched for a whisper of her mind, or even a hint that the bear came through here. Occasionally I caught a whiff of cloying sweetness or blood, but when followed the trail, it inevitably led me back to where I started. About ten miles north of where my brothers and I split up, I found a pair of smashed elk, only partially drained. About twenty feet away, a gloppy pool of regurgitated honey mixed with a spatter of gore from the animals. The bear must have tried to eat normal food, but her stomach rebelled and purged it out. Like before, the scent surrounding the carcasses shifted from sweet grass to sap to sumac to fresh water, and again I was baffled that the bear would have such a complicated, changing aroma.

After about 20 minutes, I reached for my phone to check for messages, but found my pocket empty. I stopped instantaneously. _Where was my cell phone_?

I patted my coat and pants, stunned. In the last twenty years, I had _never_ lost a phone. I might have smashed a few on occasion, but I never dropped one. Such a mistake smacked of human clumsiness, and I both fumed and laughed at my unvampirelike carelessness.

It was easy to follow my own scent back the way I came. Retracing my steps, I scoured the snow drifts, glancing under shrubs and among the rocky ledges, as I screamed a litany of curses in my head. I'd had the phone back in the clearing when I talked to Carlisle…it was obviously here somewhere. I mentally berated myself for wasting so much time on a stupid piece of metal and plastic when I should be hunting the newborn. Preoccupied and irritated, I launched myself over fallen birch and misstepped on a patch of ice. I slid out of control for a fraction of a second before catching myself with my hands, but not before I landed on one knee and soaked the lower half of my right pants leg in a pool of dirty slush.

I stood, brushing the remaining clumps off my leg. I wheeled around, furious, in an attempt to sidestep the rest of the slush pile. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account my proximity to a large pine, thick and oozing with pitch, until I'd swiped the sleeve of my leather jacket along a river of the sticky resin.

"DAMMIT!" I shouted. _Now I stained my jacket with globs of sap and I still haven't found my cell phone. _

Seething, I stalked away from the tree, pinching the bridge of my nose to calm down. Taking unnecessary deep breaths, I counted to twenty, willing myself to see the big picture. A newborn on the loose ranked of much higher importance than either a phone or a jacket. I would abandon my attempts to find the first and replace the second when I returned home. As I exhaled and opened my eyes, a glint of grey caught my eye.

I leapt to the base of a cliff. Nearly tucked under a jutting edge, lay my cell phone. I reached for it. A large crack ran down the screen, presumably when it flew from my pocket and hit the rocks. Other than that and a bit of condensation clouding the display, it still functioned. I'd missed a call from Jasper, one from Emmett and two each from Alice and Bella. Of course, there were no bars.

By now, nearly thirty minutes had passed, and I'd failed in finding the bear. My only success was in damaging my personal belongings. A wave of pity coursed through me. Was this what Bella had felt like every day, cursed with clumsiness, before her transformation into a vampire? How frustrating for her. Poor Bella.

The thought of my wife lightened my mood significantly, and I resumed my search until I could reach an area with reception to call my brothers. I hadn't heard their shouts or thoughts, so I tried to dispel any worries that something else was wrong.

Just north of the Jeep, I grimaced when I picked up Emmett's unexpected tirade.

_I'm going to smash that damn bear when I get my hands on her. Fricking impossible smell-shielding shit-eating newborn! Aaaarrrrgh!_

I sped up, heading toward where we'd parked the day before. Emmett knelt on the ground, pummeling the road with his fists like a toddler in a storm of rage.

"What is the problem, Emmett?"

"Ugh! I'm so irritated! I've been all over the side of this park and I can't find the freaking bear!" He punched a nearby rock, pulverizing it into fine powder. "My whole life I've been a hunter, Edward! What is so special about this one bear that I can't track it, even with my vampire abilities?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I've been wondering the same thing about myself. It's extremely annoying."

_Damn right it's annoying_. "I needed to take a break, so I called you to tell you that I was going back to the Jeep to change my coat. I was all pissed off about not finding the newborn's scent that I hurled a rock as I ran and I accidentally broke the side window."

I glanced at the Jeep. Sure enough, a spiderweb of cracks sprawled across the glass, ending in an apple-sized hole. Bits of broken window lay scattered across the back seat.

"Then, I was even more ticked off, and without thinking I kicked the back tire and blew it to smithereens." Emmett snarled.

"Well," I replied, surveying the damage. "At least you hit the rubber. The Jeep is still drivable once you change the tire."

Emmett sighed. "Did you have any luck?"

"No." I said. "I didn't have any luck at all." I shared my ridiculous string of minor misfortunes with Emmett.

His scowl immediately morphed into boisterous laughter.

"That's the funniest thing I've heard since Jake told me that joke about the three nymphos and a pickle factory."

I gave him a sour look.

_What? It was funny_. "Hey, at least you found your phone."

Still chuckling, Emmett wrenched the spare off the back of the Jeep. He twisted the tire iron in a blur, holding up the back of the vehicle with his other hand. In less than two minutes, he'd changed the tire and had thrown the flat in the back.

"Did Jasper call you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I could barely hear him. He spotted a bunch of humans driving to the park. I think Jazz said he was going to knock a tree down to block the entrance. I haven't heard from him since."

_Boy, Murphy's Law was in full force today. All we needed was a bigger death toll_.

"Let's get back to the clearing," I said. "We can meet up with Jasper there."

As we ran, I checked my phone for reception. A few miles from the clearing, three bars appeared on the screen. Before I could flip my phone open, it rang. _Bella_.

"Edward! There's more than one! Alice saw more than one!" she shouted.

"What? Are you talking about the humans?" Alice must have witnessed the gruesome murder of the skiers. "I'm sorry, but we couldn't save them, Bella."

I heard Jasper a few miles away, speeding up to meet us. He was on the phone as well.

"No, Edward, listen! Newborns! The bear made more newborns!"

Emmett and I reached the northern end of the clearing. I abruptly stopped as Bella's news sunk in. "What?!"

Emmett heard Bella's voice over the phone. His mouth fell open. _No way!_

_Edward! There are more! _Jasper leapt into view with a look of alarm.

_Well, that explains the changing scents_. I ran my hand through my hair, annoyed that the possibility of more than one newborn hadn't occurred to me.

"Be careful, Edward!" Bella urged.

From the south, in a flurry of thundering steps and smashed trees, three bloodthirsty, angry vampire bears exploded into the clearing. Upon seeing us, they halted, snorting and standing up on their hind legs. Flanked by a bigger male and a cub, the mother leaned forward. She pounded the snowy ground with her front paws and glared at us.

_It's the three bears! _Emmett smirked. _I wonder who gets to be Goldilocks_?

I rolled my eyes. "I love you, Bella. I'll call you later." I hung up as she said goodbye.

_Guess we know what happened to the bear Emmett knocked out. _"Gotta go, Alice!" Jasper said, as he shut his phone and shoved it into his pocket.

"I call dibs on the mama bear." Emmett squinted at the newborn, curling and uncurling his fingers. "We have some unfinished business."

As if in response, the grizzly growled ferociously at him, tossing her head from side to side.

_Can you hear anything, Edward? That bear is radiating pure hate_! Jasper's eyes widened.

A split second later, she launched herself at Emmett.

Joining the fight, the male newborn barreled toward me.

Jasper was right. Granted, the thoughts were foggy and fragmented, but I could hear _something_. The male and the cub, when not distracted by smells or sounds, focused solely on thirst and power, but the mother bear bounced from thirst to monsters to fury to revenge.

Revenge? The bear had a personal vendetta against a vampire? How was that even possible?

_Okay, I get the baby bear_. Jasper grimaced, but he charged ahead and collided with the cub.

The air filled with the sounds of deep growls, falling boulders and grating metal. Strong, but predictable, the male ran a straight path toward me. I couldn't hear his intentions the way I could with human newborns, but I anticipated his attack and bowled him over. _Maybe the bear is too instinctual—he doesn't think before acting?_ He swung an enormous paw at me and I twisted out of his reach.

Behind me, Emmett's grunts of effort mixed with bursts of joyous laughter. _I haven't had this much fun since the last newborn fight! _ He pummeled the bear, throwing punches and missing about half of the bear's retaliations.

Jasper manipulated the cub's energy, trying to overwhelm him with lethargy. The cub blinked, snuffling and rubbing his eyes, fighting the pull of sleep. Seizing the moment, Jasper jumped on the bear, biting a chunk off his shoulder. The newborn howled in pain, pushing Jasper away and gashing his arm.

_How can this bear still be standing_? Jasper gritted his teeth and kicked the cub in the stomach. Jasper kicked a second time, knocking the feet out from under the newborn. He looked at me, ramping up my feelings of violent anger and fueling my strength to fight the male. As he focused on Emmett to do the same, the cub unexpectedly bit Jasper in the leg.

Both the mama bear and Emmett snarled at each other and bared their teeth.

"Come on!" Emmett circled the grizzly. "COME ON!"

_Aaaargggh! What is up with this place_? Jasper grunted, leaping over the newborn and removing an ear.

The familiar refrain of "Candy Shop" rang out, followed immediately by both Jasper's and my phones.

"Call back later, babe. I'm sort of busy right now," Emmett mumbled through gritted teeth, ignoring the call and trading booming jabs with the mama bear.

The male towered over me. In a blur, he pounced. I flew over to the side, but he was wily and faster than I anticipated. He caught my coat, shredding the sleeve and tearing my forearm. I frowned, momentarily shocked that he'd injured me. The newborn's vibrant red eyes held me in their gaze and his thoughts became even more frenetic in his frenzy to defeat me.

_Not a chance, bear._ I thought back on my battle with Victoria. I'd easily beheaded her without a scratch on me. I fought my growing irritation that this grizzly was still in one piece. Even if I wasn't having a particularly good day, I'd be damned if a mere newborn would best me.

Springing over his head, I lashed out at the neck of the male. He threw up his paw, pounding my chest and knocking me away before I could tear his head off. I landed on my feet and immediately launched into him again. This time I removed a section of his arm with my teeth, but not before he slashed my shoulder.

Furious, I sped up, zigzagging and slamming into the side of the newborn. For every three of my bites and punches, the grizzly got in one. I paid no attention to the pain, funneling the energy into aggression instead.

On his hind legs, the cub stood the same height as Jasper. The newborn wailed and snorted, still fighting Jasper's continued waves of exhaustion, and halfheartedly swiped at him. Jasper knocked the paw aside and thrust forward to rip out a large section of his neck. The bear howled in pain, arms flying up to grab Jasper. Faster than the sleepy bear, he lunged in again to tear off the cub's arm with the sound of warping steel.

The mama bear's furious snarl echoed in the clearing. Instead of defending her baby, she intensified her attack on Emmett.

Emmett replied in kind, screaming with each smack of his fists. "Do you hear me now?" Crash! "Did you catch that, Lou?" Whack! "Are you getting it?" Crunch! "Did you lose it yet?"

_Who's Lou_? Jasper shoved the cub away, glancing at his brother in confusion.

"Emmett watched 'Fight Club' with Jacob a few weeks back," I explained. "I think he's trying to conjure Brad Pitt."

Jasper smiled and returned his attention to his opponent.

Emmett and the newborn traded punches, rolling around the ground and crashing into rocks and trees. Neither could get a fatal bite in, blocking and growling with every attempt. Surprised, I noticed the amount of damage to my brother. Emmett was missing his nose, a portion of his cheek and shoulder. His coat and shirt lay in strips on the snow. Likewise, the bear now lacked an ear, a massive chunk of her back hump and chest, and one paw. I could see her teeth and tongue through a gaping hole in her jaw.

Meanwhile, Jasper reached over to tear off most of the cub's leg. Perhaps distracted by Emmett, he didn't notice the jaws of the newborn clamping down on his shoulder blade or the swinging paw ripping apart his lower calf. Jasper shouted and pushed back to escape from the bear's teeth. I stared in shock when he tumbled backwards.

_What just happened_?

The cub's amputated arm had crawled back and yanked Jasper's feet out from underneath him. In a flash he regained his stance, kicking the arm and sending it careening into the forest. _I should be able to best a cub, newborn or not!_

In that one moment of my misguided attention, the male newborn slammed into me, mouth wide, and narrowly missed my neck. I twisted sharply, but his incisors sunk into my shoulder and upper arm, taking a piece of me with him as he bit down. Furious, I tore at his chest and torso, ripping down to his ribs. I rotated again, yanking the sheet of flesh and giving myself some distance from him. He howled in agony, then stood on his hind legs, red eyes blazing.

Our cell phones continued to ring, insistent but ignored.

"Stop calling!" Emmett bellowed, less because of the sound than from his frustration at the lack of our speedy victory. All of us seemed to have lost our grace today.

Emmett faked a charge to the right, pounced left and gashed the other side of the mother bear's face, removing one eye. The newborn snapped her arms around him, attempting to encircle him in a hug.

"Watch out, Emmett!" I yelled. "She'll crush you!"

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A/N: Huge thanks to Justine Lark, for her incredible beta help with this story.


	9. Chapter 8 The End

Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight, but the bears are all mine.

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Emmett pushed hard against her and jumped up, miraculously sparing his ribs. I heard the snap of his legs as she closed her embrace and squeezed. His shriek quickly turned to rage. Emmett bent over to bite a large piece of fur off her back and wrapped his arms around her neck to twist it. Somehow she tossed Emmett off without losing her head, but not before he'd removed another piece of her neck.

Emmett thudded against the trunk of a nearby tree, sending it falling away from the clearing. He struggled upright and limped toward her, his legs already healing.

The male charged straight at me. I darted to the side and grabbed his leg, ripping it apart at the joint. His sharp claws raked my back before I could tumble out of reach.

_I think this park is cursed_. Jasper scowled as he launched himself at cub again.

Finally losing the battle against the wall of weary energy directed at him, the newborn bowed his head and sat down. In one swoop, Jasper surged forward with teeth and hands, and with a metallic grating noise, decapitated the bear.

The mother bear roared at Jasper. Emmett pounced on her in her moment of distraction, yanking off her arm with the missing paw. She pounded him with the other, shredding his back.

Before my next attack on the male, I rapidly surveyed the scene. Our phones had finally stopped ringing. Emmett and the mother bear swirled in a frenzy of growling, punching and tearing. Jasper crouched with a lighter, setting the cub's head ablaze before chucking the torso onto the flames. He flew around the clearing in a blur, collecting limbs and bits of quivering flesh in the snow and adding them to the growing fire. Jasper glanced over to me and sent a jolt of sleepy energy at the male.

The newborn halted mid-swipe and I darted in to lop off his head. However, I was so surprised by the thoughts behind me that I paused for a millisecond—enough time for the male to shove me away, staggering and growling, with part of his neck still attached.

_Come on! _

_Run faster! They've already got one. That fire smells worse than their stench._

I stood, momentarily frozen by confusion. _What on earth were they doing here_?! "We've got company, guys!" I shouted.

Two gigantic wolves burst into the clearing.

_Huh_? Jasper blinked.

I jumped on the male as Seth leapt on his back, knocking him forward. I grasped his head with both hands and tore it off the rest of the way. Seth focused on severing limbs and running to the smoky fire to toss them in.

Jacob's muzzle sunk into the mother bear's side. She reared up and howled. Her mind raced through a myriad of images: birthing her cubs, watching Emmett and Rosalie kill other bears, catching fish in the stream, draining the skier, splitting the skull of an elk, running through the forest, her disappointment at the impending repeated defeat.

Emmett finally noticed the gigantic russet wolf. _Where did Jake come from_? The momentary bruise to his pride at the intervening assistance dissolved as he bit into the grizzly's neck.

In a few short seconds, all of the newborns were dead.

"We would have been fine on our own, but thanks anyway," I said.

Jacob and Seth exchanged glances.

_Ungrateful bloodsuckers_. _Sure looked like you needed some help to me._

Seth opened his muzzle in a canine grin and looked at me. _Hi, Edward!_

Emmett's booming guffaws echoed through the clearing, rumbling and euphoric, even though he was now missing three fingers, his shirt and a shoe. His pants hung in tatters like Hollywood's version of a shipwrecked man. Shiny silvery scars crossed his skin, though most of his injuries were already healed.

"Now THAT was the best fight EVER!" His smile encompassed his entire face and he vibrated with joy.

Seth bobbed his head. _I wished we would have come sooner. That was over too fast!_

_No doubt._ Jacob sneezed. _Man, that is some serious funk! Who knew that vampire bears would smell even worse than you guys? _

_The burning fur doesn't help. _

"Come on guys," Emmett chuckled. "Help me find my fingers!"

_Dude, is that a vampire's version of "Pull my finger?" _Jacob snorted in laughter._ Do you think he realizes he's missing some nose too? _

_And some shoulder_, Seth added.

We sorted through the bits of flesh in the snow, tossing chunks to Emmett as we found the ones that belonged to him and burning the rest. Emmett replaced the missing parts and instantly the skin fused together. When the last finger was in place, he wiggled his hands.

_Damn. I was hoping we could beat the mutt here._

"Are you kidding me?" I groaned. Everyone turned to me in confusion before I could explain. "What, is it a party?"

Alice, Bella and Rosalie emerged from the trees. Bella smiled ruefully at me. Alice bounded toward Jasper and clenched him in a hug.

Jacob and Seth let out a happy yelp. The two of them headed into the shadows to phase.

Emmett's grin deflated. "What are you doing here? Did you think we couldn't handle the bears on our own? It's bad enough we had two unnecessary wolves show up."

"Alice had a vision of the three newborns," Bella explained. "She saw the fight going badly and then you disappeared."

"I hoped it was because Jacob got involved, but I didn't want to take any chances." Alice snuggled into Jasper's side. "You guys are a mess!"

Jacob and Seth strolled into the clearing, both wearing cutoff shorts.

"Seriously. You look like you've been mauled by bears or something," Jacob smirked. "Emmett's practically naked."

I cringed at our embarrassing state of disarray. While Emmett won the prize for the most damage, Jasper and I hadn't escaped without numerous injuries. Our clothes were also destroyed with rips and scratches. "Yes, well." I cleared my throat. "It's been a most unusual day," I mumbled.

Rosalie sauntered over to Emmett. He grabbed her in a passionate kiss. "Hey stud," she purred. "Maybe later I can be your mama bear."

Jacob made a gagging noise.

Rosalie frowned, glaring at Jacob. "Why _are_ you here anyway? How did you even know about this?"

"I called Bella this morning to see when Nessie would be home," Jacob replied. "She told me that the guys were delayed with a newborn at the park and she wasn't sure if they were going to head up here to help or not."

Bella ducked her head slightly when she saw my grimace. "Sorry," she whispered. She opened her thoughts to me. _It's not that we didn't think you could handle the newborns, Edward._ _I was just worried about you, especially when none of you would answer your phones. Surely you would feel the same if things were reversed._

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Yes," I admitted. "But you women wouldn't be foolish enough to create a newborn in the first place."

"We drove up here and followed the stench," Jacob continued. "It took us a bit longer to find you guys than I thought it would. You sure took the scenic route through the park."

My pride interfered with my ability to admit our difficulty at tracking the newborns, especially in front of Jacob and Rosalie, given how mercilessly they would probably tease us. I couldn't wait to discuss theories with Carlisle, hoping he might have some ideas as to why the scents were so erratic. "The newborns were surprisingly elusive."

_You can say that again_. Jasper agreed. "I think we just missed them about a dozen times."

"We got them in the end, though," Emmett nodded. "All that build up was worth it!"

"Well, once we heard about the newborn, there was no way Seth and I could pass up the chance to see the monstrosity that Emmett had created. Plus, I wasn't sure if his screw-up violated the treaty or not," Jacob met my eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" Rosalie snarled. "You're worried about the treaty, you filthy mongrel?!"

"Rosalie," I scolded. "He's only joking."

She crossed her arms over her chest, scowling, as Emmett suppressed a smile.

Jacob's eyes twinkled. _It's just too easy to rile up Barbie_. "We just wanted another chance to kill some newborn leeches."

Seth nodded. "Sure beats watching the football game."

"You guys should have seen it," Emmett bounced up and down, rubbing his hands together. "Jasper was practically drowning the bears in sleepytime vibes, but the damn things wouldn't quit."

"They must be less susceptible to emotional manipulation than other vampires or shape shifters," Jasper frowned. "It was so unexpected. The other thing I still can't figure that out is the mama bear." He turned to Emmett. "When you were fighting her, did you realize her hate and vengeance were focused on you personally?"

Emmett raised his eyebrows. "Really? Vengeance? Ha! I just thought she was extra cranky!"

To the rest of the group, Jasper and I explained the emotions and thoughts emanating from the mama bear, and how different she was from the other newborns. I added that I couldn't hear much since most of the grizzly's thoughts were like singular pulses of images or moods, rather than a running narrative.

"The mother still had a connection to her cub, even after she became a vampire," Bella said. "I can understand that perfectly."

I remembered how needlessly nervous we'd all been about Bella's reaction to Renesmee. Pride and love swelled my heart as I looked at her, thinking back on her amazing levels of control and strength.

"So can I," stated Rosalie. "Revenge can take on a life if its own, especially when you wake up immortal and all-powerful."

I met her eyes briefly, watching her memories of the bloody aftermath with Royce once she had changed. "Bear or vampire, she still wanted retribution."

"Right. That makes total sense," Jasper nodded. _I'm surprised I didn't make the connection to Bella and Renesmee. Or to Rosalie._

"It's a shame she turned her own cub into a bloodsucker. Bella, I'm glad you never tried to attack Nessie," Jacob grimaced. "That's one newborn fight I wouldn't have enjoyed."

"Me either," Bella replied. "It's strange. As a mother, even though Nessie smelled good, I never wanted to hurt her. It makes me feel sort of bad for the grizzly."

"Not me," Jacob scoffed. "Sorry, Bells. She had it coming even more if she drank her own kid."

"Do you think there are any other righteously angry mama bears in this park? If one can hold a grudge…" Emmett furrowed his brow. _Maybe I could do this again the next time Rose and I come here. If I waited around for the bear to wake up, it wouldn't be able to kill anyone. Newborn grizzly beats irritable grizzly hands down. _

_I should talk to Emmett about making more of those newborns. The rest of the pack would love another battle with some surly vampires._

"Emmett! Jake!" I shouted. "Don't you dare!"

"What?" Emmett grinned sheepishly. _You ruin all of my fun, Edward_. "Wasn't that the best hunting trip ever?"

"Yeah, Edward. Admit it. That was fun." Jacob threw a glance at Emmett._ I'll have to talk to Emmett later--out of range of Mr. Mindreader._

"It was," Jasper ran a hand through his hair as he shrugged at me. "Frustrating, but fun."_ Their fighting tactics were so unusual and they seemed even faster than normal newborns. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm kind of glad Emmett accidentally created a newborn. When would we ever have had the opportunity for such an impossible occurrence if it wasn't for him?_

"No," I snapped. "The whole thing was an avoidable mistake. Two people died and more would have been killed if the newborns had escaped the forest. If I so much as suspect that you would actually repeat this nonsense…"

"It's okay, Edward. Emmett won't do it again," Alice said. "Rosalie wouldn't let him anyway."

"That's right," she agreed, kissing Emmett's neck. "I'll make sure he's too occupied with other things to make any more newborns. The only vampire he'll bite and chase around here will be me."

Rosalie whispered in Emmett's ear, detailing where she'd like to nibble on him and for how long. He growled deep in his throat and pulled her closer.

Jacob looked sourly at Seth. "Time to go. I don't need any more visuals of SparkleBarbie and Grizzly Adams over there." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Well, no need to thank us again for saving the day. It was our pleasure! If there's ever a next time, you should just call us and we'll take care of it for you a whole lot faster!"

"Ha! Whatever Jake!" Emmett waved dismissively at him over Rosalie's shoulder. "You only showed up after we'd exhausted them. If you'd have come a minute later, you would have missed the fight entirely!"

"Sure, sure," Jacob laughed. "You keep telling yourself that, Emmett. I wouldn't expect any less from you vampires."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, guys. We'll see you at home."

"See you guys later!" Seth and Jacob jogged into the forest.

"We should probably get going soon, too. Someone just called the fire department about the smoke," Alice said.

"We'll have to lift the Jeep over the tree blocking the road," Jasper replied. "It was the quickest way to deter any more humans from coming into the park."

"You did the right thing." Alice grabbed Jasper's hand. "Four more people would have died if they'd gotten into the forest."

"Yeah, good work, Jazz. Let's leave the humans for the police to find, but we should make a quick sweep of the forest to dispose of the dead animals that have been drained by the newborns." I looked at Alice. "Do we have enough time?"

"Yes. We'll have to split up, but we should be fine."

"Why don't you guys head south?" Rosalie suggested. "Emmett and I can cover the north and we'll drive the Jeep home. You four can take the car."

"Don't we need to pick up Esme and Nessie?" I asked.

"No," Bella replied. "Carlisle drove down to get them this morning when we decided to come here."

"Alright, you two." Alice giggled. Rosalie and Emmett were already propped up against a tree, kissing. "Don't do that too long. The park rangers are on their way here to clear the road and assist with the fire."

"Let's go." Jasper pulled Alice out of the clearing.

We split off into pairs to find and hide the drained carcasses. Then the four of us met back at the Volvo, parked on the shoulder next to the fallen tree.

As Jasper drove, he replayed the day's events to Alice, filling in the gaps of her vision. She explained how the newborns appeared, and the alternate ways the fight could have ended.

I knew we'd spend the better part of the evening discussing details with Carlisle, so I tried to block the two of them out. I snuggled against Bella in the backseat.

She looked me over, giddy. "You're always spotless after hunting, Edward. I shouldn't admit how happy it makes me to see you like this, but it does," she giggled. "It's so refreshing. And sexy."

I smirked. "It reminds me of your first hunt, although I certainly can't compare to you in that dress."

"Here they are," Alice said, nodding toward the window. We passed a green Forest Service truck just a few miles outside of Bellingham. "Rosalie and Emmett are just leaving." Her eyes glazed as she lost herself in a vision. "Hmmm…the humans will still be confused, but it will be fine. They certainly won't suspect vampires." She turned back to Jasper and launched into a description of all of the clothes she'd bought over the weekend. He smiled and a strong wave of affection filled the car.

Bella leaned over to give me a long, tender kiss. "I'm so glad you're okay, Edward. I'm sorry I overreacted. Now I know how you must have felt when I disappeared from Alice's sight every time I visited Jacob in La Push."

"Terrifying, isn't it?" I chucked. "I understand, Bella. I'm not angry." I brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, so grateful to hold her in my arms after such a trying weekend. "I missed you, love," I murmured.

"I missed you, too."

Alice burst out laughing, interrupting our kiss. "Be prepared to argue your opinion on creating newborns, Edward. Nessie's going to try to convince you to make a mountain lion newborn when she hunts with you next."

"Oh for Pete's sake," Bella muttered.

"Thanks for the head's up, Alice. I'll make sure any animal we kill is properly drained." I grumbled to myself. "And I'll be sure to persuade Emmett to keep his mouth shut."

"It's more Jacob, actually," Alice said. She shook her head. "He sure can be a pain."

_Haven't I been saying that for years?_ I opened my mouth to respond, but Bella gave me a stern look.

"Hush, Edward." She leaned in again, breathing in my scent. "We can worry about Jacob later. For now, shut up and kiss me."

"Of course, my darling. Right now, you're the only newborn I'm interested in."

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A/N: A gazillion thanks to Justine Lark for all of her beta help and for her daughter, who came up with the idea of the wolves joining in the fight.


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Our last story this evening is the disappearance and death of two skiers in the Mt. Baker National Forest. Cindy Cravick is standing by with the full report. Cindy?"

"Thanks, Pam. I'm here at Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Earlier today, authorities discovered the grisly remains of Roger and Caroline McCormick of Salem, Oregon. Both were reported missing after the pair hadn't returned from their skiing trip in Washington this weekend. The McCormicks were allegedly killed by a grizzly bear and their remains have been found in the forest. While it is unusual for grizzlies to kill humans, they will attack if provoked or threatened.

"The Forest Service was alerted to the National Park after a family found the entrance blocked by a fallen tree. Witnesses also reported a foul-smelling smoke coming from the forest.

"Local fire department officials discovered a gruesome scene of blood-soaked snow at the location of the fire. Forensic specialists identified the blood as originating from a grizzly bear, but park rangers could not locate any injured or dead bears. Authorities could not identify the cause of the unusual smell or the items in the fire.

"Park Service Chief Robert Mann issued a statement today warning skiers to be watchful of grizzlies, but also reminded residents that grizzlies are generally peaceful creatures and should not be hunted within the boundaries of Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.

"Since then, several reports have come in about other strange occurrences at Mt. Baker. I'm standing by Wallace Montgomery, a Glacier resident. Mr. Montgomery, what did you see?"

"Well, me and my nephew were out watching birds by the river. We were standing there talking about how I wished my nephew woulda brought his camera, when we saw two huge wolves running in the woods. One was brown and the other was red. They were as big as horses! I've never seen anything like it! My nephew tried to take their picture with his cell phone, but they ran away too fast."

"Uh…thank you Mr. Montgomery. Local police are continuing to work with the Forest Service to find those responsible for setting the blaze. If you have any information, please call the Bellingham Police Department at 360-555-8800. Pam?"

"Thanks, Cindy. Tom and Kathy will be back at ten o'clock with scores from the high school basketball tournament tonight and the storm forecast for this week. Plus, how you can protect your family from a silent killer: radon. I'm Pam Jacobs at KBCB news. Thank you and have a good evening.

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A/N: Huge thanks to Justine Lark, for her incredible beta help with this story and TheSingingGirl for her idea on the news report.

Thanks to everyone who read my silly story!

I only know of one other vampire-creature creation story: "Vampiric Peaches" by Llama Mama23 at www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net (slash) s (slash) 3566981 (slash) 1 (slash)

If you know of any more, please PM me.

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